"Wear sunscreen"- it's the single most-used phrase that we hear this time of year when headed outdoors.

What You Need To Know

  • UPF measures the amount of UV radiation a piece of fabric allows through

  • A rating of 30-49 is very good, with 50 or above excellent

  • Children, fair-skinned people and those on certain medications will benefit the most from UPF clothing

  • Many national clothing brands are now manufacturing their own high-UPF rated garments

Protection from the sun is not only important, but life-saving, with UV radiation being the cause of sunburn, premature aging and skin cancer.

While the acronym we closely identify with sunscreen is "SPF" (sun protection factor), there's another letter combo you should familiarize yourself with, if you're serious about taking your sun protection one step further: UPF.

UPF, or ultraviolet protection factor, indicates how much UV radiation a fabric allows to reach your skin. That's right, more and more clothing companies are now manufacturing apparel that can block out significant amounts of radiation, thus increasing your protection for areas that you cannot slather the sunscreen on.

The UPF factor is a little different from SPF. For example, most dermatologists agree that a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 is necessary for protection, with reapplication every 2 hours.

According to the Skin Care Foundation, a fabric must have a UPF rating of 30 to receive a recommendation as a protective garment. A rating of 30-49 is considered very good, while anything 50 or above is considered excellent.

What do those numbers mean? A rating of 30 would mean the fabric of the garment would allow 1/30th of the UV radiation to pass through it.

50? 1/50th, which is of course even better protection.

As a comparison, a typical run-of-the-mill cotton T-shirt that you'd wear to the beach comes in at a UPF of only 5, which would mean 20% of the radiation would pass through it. When you're talking about your health, these differences are huge.

UPF-rated clothing as you can imagine, has a variety of benefits. Those with fair skin are more susceptible to burns, so having more of your body covered and protected will increase your safety from the sun.

Children will benefit, as well, since they typically have more sensitive and thinner skin.

People who are on medications are also going to see a difference when wearing UPF clothing. Some anti-inflammatory medications such as antibiotics, antihistamines, and even acne medications can increase the risk of sunburn when exposed.

What's nice is that if you are in the market to purchase UPF clothing, manufacturers have done the guess work for you, so you truly only have to look at the rating to determine how protective an article of clothing may be.

If you're like me, and naturally curious though, here are a few factors that go into creating the garments:

  • Thickness and construction: a dense and tight construction of a piece of clothing is going to yield a higher rating. Fabrics that are denser help filter out UV radiation better.
  • Vibrant, dark colors will perform much better than pale and light colors.
  • Treatment: non-toxic dyes and additives that are safe are usually added to high-rated UPF clothing to help them absorb radiation.
  • Material type: polyester and nylon are some of the best fabrics used to block out UV light. 

There are plenty of high-rated UPF types of clothing out there made of flax, hemp, rayon and cotton, but those are treated with dyes and chemicals first to make them safer.

All that said, it certainly seems like it would make sense to invest in some high UPF-rated clothing if you're an outdoors person, right? Luckily, unlike in years past, these items are now much more readily available than ever.

Gone are the days where you would need to look online or even at a speciality store.

While there are many specialty and specific UPF brands out there, a quick look around two national big-box department stores on a recent day off yielded plenty of 40+ rated UPF labels. In fact, many name-brand companies are now making their own line of high-rated UPF clothing.

UPF-rated clothing will typically have the rating clearly printed on the tag or label. 

Remember: while wearing UPF clothing is great, you must also cover the parts of your body that the clothes don't, with sunscreen.

A high SPF, liberally applied every 2 hours, along with UV-protective sunglasses can significantly help keep you healthy and safe when you venture outdoors this summer.